Kristoffersson's winning streak continues

Photo credit: FIAWorldRallycross.com

Johan Kristoffersson wins his home event at Holjes, his fifth victory of the 2018 FIA World Rallycross Championship.

In the opening day of the World RX of Sweden, Kristoffersson broke another record by taking the Q1 win and becoming the first driver to win seven qualifying session in a row, he then went on it Q2 to make that eight. Going into Sunday Kristoffersson was top of the table. In Q3 he was beaten by PSRX Volkswagen Sweden teammate Petter Solberg to the top spot, but went on to secure the win in Q4.

Solberg however, didn’t make it through to the final. A mistake in his Q1 joker lap saw him down the order but recording the second fastest times in Q2 and Q4 and topping the sheet in Q3 saw him second in the table. The problem came in the semi-final where a failure on the car saw Solberg retire and ending his weekend prematurely. Also missing out on the finals, dropping out in the semi-finals stages were Sébastien Loeb, Janis Baumanis, Niclas Grӧnholm, Timur Timerzyanov and Robin Larsson.

The final saw some last lap drama but this didn’t stop Kristoffersson from taking a dominant victory. Getting the best start saw Kristoffersson receive the Super Charge Award and leading into the first turn. Andreas Bakkerud, starting his EKS Audi Sport alongside Kristoffersson, closed the door on the Team Peugeot Total of Timmy Hansen to maintain his position.

On the first lap Timmy Hansen, Mattias Ekstrӧm and Jérôme Grosset-Janin took their joker lap and then set out the challenge of closing the gap on those that hadn’t. Kevin Hansen however, on the second lap pulled to the side of the road and was a retirement with damage on his car.

Despite Ekstrӧm crawling all over the back of Timmy Hansen they were gaining time on Bakkerud, whilst Kristoffersson continued to increase his gap. The last lap saw Kristoffersson and Bakkerud take their jokers, Kristoffersson coming out to maintain his lead, whilst Bakkerud came out alongside Hansen and Ekstrӧm and slotting in between them.

Approaching the end of the lap Hansen goes slightly wide allowing Bakkerud to make his move up the inside into second place. Ekstrӧm looks to do the same on the next turn but the two cars collide with Hansen ending his race in the gravel.

Kristoffersson took the win ahead of Bakkerud and Ekstrӧm, however post-race Ekstrӧm received a penalty for the incident and was knocked down to sixth. This promoted Grosset-Janin into third place, the first podium finish for both him and the GC Kompetition in just their sixth event.

Kristoffersson’s championship lead was extended to 40 points, whilst Bakkerud moved up into second ahead of Solberg at the half way point. There is now a four week break